A/HRC/39/CRP.2 Rohingya and Kaman in these camps and sites since 2012 constitutes an arbitrary and discriminatory deprivation of their liberty. 1501 693. According to credible reports, when the camps were established, the authorities decided on their location and stated that they would not be permanent. 1502 However, six years later, little has changed, with no indication that the situation will be resolved in the foreseeable future. The displaced population is heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance. The humanitarian community faces multiple challenges in seeking to improve conditions in the camps. Most of the displaced live in over-crowded long-houses with inadequate privacy and restrictions on access to livelihoods, health and education. 4,000 people displaced in the Nget Chaung 2 camp in Pauktaw Township live in muddy, wet, unsanitary conditions because the camp is located on low-lying land, which is continuously flooded.1503 During her visit in April 2018, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs described the conditions in the camps as “beyond the dignity of any people”.1504 694. In its interim report of March 2017, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State (the Advisory Commission) recommended that the Government prepares a comprehensive strategy towards the closure of all the IDP camps “through a consultation process with affected communities”.1505 As a “first step and sign of goodwill”, the Commission called for the return and relocation of displaced people from three locations in Ramree, Pauktaw and Kyaukpyu. The Government claimed in May 2017 to have achieved this. However, while it successfully moved ethnic Rakhine from Kyaukpyu to a relocation site within Rakhine State, 55 Kaman households were relocated from Ramree to Yangon. They were told that they would not be allowed to return to their places of origin and were given small financial incentives. Furthermore, rather than returning the Rohingya from Kyein Ni Pyin camp (Pauktaw) to their places of origin, or offering them a durable solution elsewhere, the Government built individual houses on their displacement site.1506 Similarly, the Government’s pilot project to start closing the remaining displacement camps in Rakhine State, announced on 2 January 2018, is highly unsatisfactory.1507 According to credible reports, instead of closing the 10 camps in the pilot project, and returning the displaced to their places of origin or relocating them, the intention is to convert some of the displacement camps into villages. This goes against the wish, expressed by the majority of the displaced, to return to their places of origin, often located in urban centres.1508 It is also contrary to the final recommendations of the Advisory Commission. Implementation of these plans, as with Kyein Ni Pyin, will further entrench marginalization, segregation and confinement. 695. The Mission is extremely concerned about the protracted confinement of Rohingya and Kaman communities in these camps and sites, which has a devastating impact on the human rights of these individuals. It urges the Myanmar authorities to resolve the situation urgently in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Its principle 28 underscores the primary duty and responsibility of the competent authorities to establish conditions, as well as provide the means, which allow displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence, or to resettle voluntarily to another part of the country. It further stipulates that authorities shall endeavour to facilitate the reintegration of returnees, and that special efforts should be made to ensure the full participation of the affected persons in the planning and management of their return. 1501 1502 1503 See this chapter, section B.2.f: Conclusion. K-069.1. K-069.1. 1504 See video: https://twitter.com/uschimuller/status/981625075953782784?lang=fr 1505 Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, Interim Report and Recommendations (March 2017), p. 1213 Inquiry Commission on Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State, Final report (July 2013), p. 35; K-063 The Global New Light of Myanmar, “Meeting on IDP camps, freedom of movement matters held in Rakhine State” (3 January 2018); Statement by the Office of the State Counsellor on the Final Report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State (24 August 2017). K-063, K-069.1. 1506 1507 1508 165